The present invention is directed to the process of Active Data Syndication and its use in web development and content management. More specifically, the present invention establishes the mechanism, the framework, the interfaces and the ancillary methodology to allow multiple content creators to offer for targeted syndication or network distribution and retrieval of digital assets across the web and to have those assets present within the constrains of the receiving web site, and to automate that process, where warranted.
Conventional web sites consist of a wide variety of articles and information compiled and entered independently by a webmaster. Tools abound to facilitate the production of such web sites, from textual HTML editors to visual page designers like Adobe GoLive. Programs like LinkBOT exist to validate links among pages. However, the conventionality of this form of web site generation becomes merely a shell for the advent of the more advanced, dynamic and interactive web site.
Site management tools allow for the collaborative efforts of site creation, but are significantly limited in their ability to share information and digital assets across the boundaries of web sites.
Syndication or distribution of digital assets across the web heretofore involved the direct replication of those assets to a database server under the control of the receiving web site manager, and away from the control of the supplier of the digital asset. Examples of implementations where content replication is the primary form of asset syndication include those from Vignette, Kinecta, Interwoven, ICE, and ArcadiaOne.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system which (1) unifies the way digital assets, in any form, are shared from one site to another, (2) unifies the distribution of those digital assets across multiple platforms, (3) allows the owners of digital asset a management tool for tracking the business relationships surrounding the use of the digital assets, (4) establishes mechanisms, interfaces and methodology for the secure flow of information through information distribution networks, (5) facilitates the webmaster to have updated digital content present on the web site, and (6) automates the update of web content. The present invention fulfills these needs.
Prior to the present invention, it was not possible for web sites governed by any number of normal content management tools to proactively share information with independent and unrelated web sites. The lightweight and transportable tool of the present invention allows for a web site to be programmed to receive digital asset information in a multiplicity of formats, and to display those assets within the style and constraints of the receiving web site. The web sites need not be collocated, nor do they need to be created using the same tools. They simply need to render HTML in any web browser, capable of interpreting Java and JavaScript. The power of this tool is such that it can enhance, if not revolutionize, the bi-directional communications infrastructure using the web. These managed information distribution networks do for the Internet what faxes and overnight mail did for corporate correspondence two decades ago.